This might sound like an oxymoron but tomorrow is the United States' own National French Bread Day, which will celebrate all French bread, from baguettes to croissants, viennoiseries and more (Cronuts probably not included.)

One of the Frenchest hotels in the U.S., The Sofitel New York at 45 West 44th Street, is celebrating the day (which is also the first day of spring, although the weather in NYC looks otherwise) by turning their private dining room at their brasserie, Gaby, into a pop-up boulangerie serving 15 different kinds of French bread and French pastries.

Even better than the fresh bread smells that are sure to waft through the hotel, the cost of the bread will be just $1, with all of the proceeds going to City Harvest, a food rescue organization that helps feed more than 1.4 million in-need New Yorkers. Donations beyond $1 are also accepted.

In case you want to wake up with the fresh bread tomorrow morning, rates at the Sofitel tonight start at $241. while rates for tomorrow night, when the bread might not be as fresh, start at $267.

The 220-room Dream Midtown recently completed the first phase of a $20 million renovation that included a floor-to-ceiling redesign of the lobby, guest rooms, and suites. The property also changed its name from the Dream New York to the Dream Midtown.

As you can see above, the new rooms look pretty spiffy with their canopy-style headboards. But the most interesting thing about this renovation is the second phase that will be unveiled this spring: Nightlife offerings by TAO Strategic Group, they who run the massive nightclubs Tao in NYC and Las Vegas, will include the introduction of 4,000 square-foot bi-level rooftop lounge. According to the hotel, the atmosphere and vibe will mirror the current experience one can have at Dream Meatpacking, which is already big party spot. Dream Midtown will also turn its cellar into a nightlife zone, but no timetable for that has been released.

So, we don't really even have to read between the lines to get the drift of this announcement: Dream Midtown is turning itself into a party zone. Whether it's a good idea or a bad idea will simply depend on how the plan is executed, and we look forward to seeing how it turns out. Either way, we hope the new renovations include soundproofing the rooms.

Last week, when we updated our list of major new hotels coming to NYC (mostly in midtown), we really thought we had all our bases covered. Tryp on 35th St; Hyatt Place on 36th St; Hyatt Union Square and a few others.

Then we learned on Monday that Marriott is bringing a new Courtyard to Herald Square. But that's not all that Marriott has up its sleeves. Two and a half blocks up, a new building that's going up at 25 W 37th St will supply Manhattan with its first-ever SpringHill Suites hotel. A rendering of the new property shows off a rooftop bar and some funky dot-and-dash patterns for the windows on the building's exterior. Almost like morse code. What is Marriott trying to tell us?

If Thanksgiving is the one time of year when NYC's Herald Square can actually become relevant again (Macy's parade, hello?), then it was with good foresight that Marriott waited until this week to announce their new midtown Courtyard property. The worldwide hotel brand will plant a new Courtyard by Marriott Herald Square inside the former Atlantic Bank of New York Building, on the corner of 35th Street and Sixth Avenue.

Maintaining its current facade, the 17-story, 168-room hotel will be ready by "early 2012," which should put it in line to open along with its Hyatt and Holiday Inn neighbors over on 36th Street.

This news also coincides (then again, in this business, coincidences don't really exist) with Macy's announcement last Tuesday that the flagship Herald Square store will be receiving a $400 million makeover.

With rooms hovering well above $500 a night--$895 a night next Friday night!--the Setai Fifth Ave has been out of our price range. So last night we did the next best thing to checking in and dropped by the hotel's Bar on Fifth to check it out instead.

We were meeting friends who work nearby, and the location on 36th Street and Fifth Ave clearly plays a huge part in the mix. We arrived at 5 p.m. when the slick looking bar was still fairly quiet. Not 15 minutes later, however, a group of men in suits arrived, and then more arrived, and soon the corner of the bar right next to us was filled with a bunch of obnoxious dudes complaining about their beer and asking the bartender for more samples of red wine.